Keeping my family healthy, keeping my family happy

Zucchini Pizza Crust and Zucchini Fritters; 2 for 1 Recipe

Who doesn’t like pizza? I mean seriously, it seems to be one food that everyone loves. It gets a bad rap for being unhealthy though and I am not really sure why. If you use a whole wheat crust, low sugar tomato sauce, and organic cheese and veggies as toppings, it sounds like a well rounded meal to me. Although I always have the issue of piling on too many topping to try and get more vegetables in. A couple sprinkled mushrooms on top of a huge pizza doesn’t quite help you get your 5 servings of vegetables in a day. My solution? Veggies in the crust! With everyone’s booming zucchini crop this time of year (besides mine, dang squash borers!) this recipe will be perfect to use some up and sneak in some extra veggies! My kids LOVED it.

Zucchini Pizza Crust:

2 1/2 packed cups shredded zucchini

2 eggs

1/4 cup white whole wheat flour

1/3 cup shredded mozzarella cheese

1/3 cup parmesan cheese

1 clove garlic, chopped

1/4 tsp salt

5 basil leaves

1 tsp fresh oregano

2 tsp fresh parsley

Shred zucchini. It took about 2 small to medium zucchini to make 2.5 cups. Place a couple of paper towels in a bowl and put zucchini on top. Mix in the 1/4 tsp salt and let it sit for 10 minutes. Pick up the zucchini in the paper towels and wring all the water out you can. Place new dry paper towels in the bowl and let zucchini rest on it again for 10 minutes. Wring out any remaining water you can. The more water you get out, the crispier the crust will be.

Chop herbs.

Mix herbs, zucchini and the rest of the ingredients together in a bowl.*

If you have a pizza stone, place it in the oven and turn your oven to 350F. Once its preheated, take it out and very generously cover with corn meal. Press dough out on pizza stone with your fingers, getting it as thin as possible. If you don’t have a pizza stone, grease a baking sheet and again, flatten out dough as thin as possible. I actually think it works better on a baking sheet since you can grease it well. You aren’t supposed to use spray on a pizza stone so it does stick a little.

Bake at 350F for 25 minutes. Turn oven to broil and broil for 2-5 minutes, until very browned.

If you like a crispier crust, flip the crust over and broil the other side for 2-5 minutes. Make sure you use a thin spatula to get the crust off the pizza stone so you don’t tear it up.

Add sauce, cheese, and toppings and cook pizza at 350F for additional 15 minutes or until cheese is bubbly.

And ready for this? It doubles as a zucchini fritter recipe!

Zucchini Fritters:

same as above until *. Now instead of pressing down in one large crust, spoon dough, 2 Tablespoons at a time, onto greased cookie sheet and press down until very thin. Cook at 350F for 15-20 minutes. Broil for 2-5. Flip over. Broil another 2-5. These are high in protein and high in nutrients. A perfect summer side dish! I also substitute sharp cheddar for the mozzarella when making fritters sometimes (really whatever cheese I have on hand) and they are amazing! My children both go nuts for these!

Check out the nutrition stat for each slice of pizza crust when cut into 8 slices. That is some high protein and high veggie crust!

Calories: 67

Total Fat: 3.3g

Sodium : 181mg (8%)

Carbohydrates: 4.4g

Protein: 5.1g

Make sure you check out my Graham Cracker Recipe. I added some variations I tried out over the weekend, including chocolate graham crackers!